THERE were systematic failures to adequately protect vulnerable children and young people from abuse at Coventry and Warwickshire YMCA, says its new chief executive.

It follows revelations in yesterday’s Telegraph that a secret city council investigation last year concluded the Christian charity had failed to safeguard thousands of youngsters using their care and youth services.

The investigation also found systematic abuse of public money, which last month led to the government dramatically withdrawing £4 million of funding, threatening the organisation’s future. Other funds are under review.

New interim chief executive Andy Winter has now told the Telegraph of routine failures to carry out CRB (Criminal Record Bureau) checks on new staff, which check for any past convictions including for child abuse.

Mr Winter - who replaced Doreen Lennon on her resignation while the whole affair was being kept secret - told us: “The (council) report clearly identifies there were not strong systems of control in place.

"This extended to the management system for CRB checks on new employees.

“We now know that even when the checks were properly applied there were instances when specific instructions were disregarded and regrettably during last year there were occasions when staff worked with young people without the CRB being in place.

“No incidents have arisen as a result.

All staff that work with children and young people are now properly appointed with CRBs or are working on reduced duties with a risk assessment in place awaiting their CRB.”

As we reported yesterday, a leaked letter from government funding bodies revealed a catalogue of financial mismanagement.

It included duplicate claims for taxpayers’ cash from two government grants, overclaims for staff overtime, inadequate budgetary controls, and conflicts of interest when hiring subcontractors.

Mr Winter told us the new management is currently investigating with funding organisations last year’s books – particularly examining about £50,000 of unrecorded claims, and two duplicated claims to the council totalling £42,000.

He said no other funding has so far been pulled, apart from the £2.2m Myplace government fund for a new “state-of-the-art” youth centre in Stoke Aldermoor, and £1.6m for a Coventry and Warwickshire-wide youth crime prevention programme, which has been scrapped.

He and Colin Green, the council’s children’s department director, said discussions were underway to rescue the funding for the Y-Stoke Aldermoor Inspiration Centre, by diverting the funds to another organisation.